Massachusetts Institute of Technology
AC-5: Immersive Experience

MIT D-Lab works with people around the world to develop and advance collaborative approaches and practical solutions to global poverty challenges.

The program’s mission is pursued through interdisciplinary courses, research in collaboration with global partners, technology development, and community initiatives — all of which emphasize experiential learning, real-world projects, community-led development, and scalability. Many of the D-Lab courses work with sustainability related issues and involve travel abroad during the January semester, spring break, or summer to implement technologies or ideas created during the class portion of the course. Listed below is one example description and the other titles for sustainability related D-Labs.

D-lab: Development: addresses issues of technological improvements at the micro level for developing countries—in particular, how the quality of life of low-income households can be improved by adaptation of low cost and sustainable technologies. Discussion of development issues as well as project implementation challenges are addressed through lectures, case studies, guest speakers and laboratory exercises. Students form project teams to partner with mostly local level organizations in developing countries, and formulate plans for an IAP site visit. Partial funding is available for all students who wish to travel and perform out-of-country fieldwork related to this class. Previous field sites include Ghana, Brazil, Honduras, Tanzania, El Salvador, Uganda, and India. Project team meetings focus on developing specific projects and include cultural, social, political, environmental and economic overviews of the countries and localities to be visited as well as an introduction to the local languages.

Other sustainable D-Labs:
D-Lab: Cross Cultural Investigations
D-Lab: Biodiversity
D-Lab: Cycle Ventures
D-lab: Development
D-lab: Disseminating Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Environmental Innovations for the Common Good
D-lab: Education
D-lab: Energy
D-lab: Health- Medical Technologies for the Developing World
D-lab: ICT- Information and Communication Technologies for Development
D-lab: Wheelchair Design for Developing Countries
D-lab: Waste
D-lab: Product Development of Poverty Alleviating Technologies
D-lab: Development Ventures - MIT Emerging Market Innovations Seminar

L-Lab: leading Sustainable Systems (L-Lab) tackles critical issues of leading change in global business sustainability. The course combines an on-site field project experience focused on complex sustainability initiatives with systems thinking tools and thought-leading reflective practices that develop personal and collective leadership skills. In January, the student teams—typically composed of four graduate students—spend three weeks on site, working closely with organizational leaders to address critical issues of sustainability and develop capacities for systemic change, where leading across traditional organizational boundaries is often required.